Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lowry for reminding us about Brexit because it has not gone away, you know. In many ways, we planned for a potential shock to our economy to occur in early 2020. We thought that might be Brexit and managed to avoid it, and instead we found ourselves dealing with a much sharper shock in the form of Covid-19, which has affected the economy in the way that it has.

The joint committee, which is made up of the EU and the UK, can extend economic Brexit happening, if one likes, for another year but they have not yet taken that decision and the UK Government has expressed its view that it wants to go ahead on 1 January 2021. That ultimately is its decision rather than ours, but the option is there to extend it another year should the UK Government wish to do so.

So far, the Covid-19 crisis has not influenced our Brexit strategy, but it does fundamentally change the context because it has totally changed how trade works, the state of our economy and our fiscal capacity. I can provide a commitment that we will maintain all existing Brexit funding and support programmes, notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic, but some of these are going to be matters for the next Government. I can give an assurance to the agrifood sector, which is the most exposed to Brexit, that it will be sufficiently supported ahead of the transition on 31 December.

I was asked as well about when we would know the details regarding the checks and controls and when I anticipated that the EU and the UK would agree to these issues. I do not know for certain, but it had always been envisaged that it would be done by June or July before the traditional summer breaks, thus giving business a good six months to prepare for any of those changes that were going to take place. They are not agreed as of yet, but I totally agree that business needs as long a lead-in time as possible and not a short lead-in time.

All farmers have been badly affected by Covid-19 - we will have seen how the milk price has fallen - but beef farmers have been suffering for years now, and this situation on top of that has made things really severe for them. I think the Deputy suggested that we bring forward direct payments for beef farmers, and perhaps all farmers, from October to July of this year. They are EU funds that farmers will be getting anyway, so it might make sense to bring them forward. It is not money that they would not be getting anyway, but at the very least it might help with cash flow. I do think that is a good idea, and I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about it to see if it is possible.

In terms of my contacts with the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, just in the last couple of days I contacted him to wish him well on the birth of a baby boy. Previously, I was in contact with him regarding his illness.

We have not had a chance to speak about substantive issues such as Covid-19 and Brexit since the middle of March, but now that he has gone back to work this week, I am sure we will.

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